Sunday, May 16, 1999
REDS NOTEBOOK
Baerga decision could come today
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Something could happen today with Carlos Baerga. Baerga has a clause in his contract that the Reds have to release him or call him up from Triple-A Indy if other teams are willing to put him on the big league roster.
The deadline was Saturday, and, General Manager Jim Bowden said, some teams had expressed an interest.
“He's played extremely well,” Bowden said.
Baerga had a string of six straight multi-hit games snapped Friday night. Baerga would give the Reds a switch-hitter off the bench.
Bowden on Neagle
Is Bowden concerned about Denny Neagle's woes?
“Absolutely,” he said. “We're monitoring it.”
Neagle, who missed most of spring training with weakness in his left (throwing) shoulder, has been ineffective in all but one of his five starts.
“The MRIs and everything else can say he's 100 percent healthy,” Bowden said. “But there's no question he is not pitching like the Denny Neagle of last four years. So, absolutely, we're concerned. But hopefully it will work out with time.”
Neagle, the 30-year-old left-hander, was the key to the deal that sent Bret Boone to Atlanta. So far, Neagle is 0-3 with 6.46 ERA.
Jack's plaque
San Diego's Tony Gwynn will present the plaque commemorating McKeon's 600th win to McKeon today at 1 p.m. McKeon was the Padres general manager when Gwynn was drafted.
Lost opportunities
For all the worries about the team's pitching, the Reds had allowed the least hits and third least runs going into Saturday's game. They were 12th, however, in runs scored.
Particularly troubling is their lack of ability to execute when baseball's golden opportunity arises.
“We've really had trouble getting a run in from third with less than two outs,” McKeon said. “That's where a groundball scores a run.”
The Reds were hitting .205, entering Saturday, with runners in scoring position and less than two outs. In 123 at-bats in such situations, the Reds had struck out 31 times.
Cameron's hot
Leadoff Mike Cameron, who started this home stand in a slump, is not struggling anymore.
Cameron went 2-for-4 Saturday to extend his hitting streak to five games. In that period, he is 10-for-23 (.434). He reached base in 24 of his last 28 games and scored 22 runs in those games.
Nice crowd
The Reds drew 25,615 Saturday night, pushing their season total to 447,692. That's an average of 20,349. After 22 dates last year, they were averaging 20,398.
But the good news for the Reds is on a similar date last year — a Saturday game vs. Colorado — they drew only 20,034.
Short hops
• San Diego's Jim Leyritz singled in his first at-bat, extending his hitting streak to six games (7-for-19).
• San Diego's John Vander Wal struck out in the seventh, leaving him one pinch hit shy of 100 for his career. Only 13 players have reached that mark.
• Slumping Wally Joyner (4-for-27) went 0-for-4, grounded into two double plays and committed an error for the Padres.
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